Declare bias, media told

DECLARE your bias, said the Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum as he highlighted the important role the media will play in the general election in September.

He said if the media was biased towards a particular political party, then they should declare it.

"It's not time to play Mickey Mouse games, it's time to create an environment where people get the best information, where the media plays a very critical role, in terms of the dissemination of information, where it has to be very transparent and non biased," Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

"As we have said previously if the media organisations do have a bias, they do, many media organisations in the world have bias, but they declare it, and there is nothing wrong with it.

"The media, its editorial can come out and say that we are supporting a political party. They do it all other times in other countries, even in Australia they do that.

"The fact is that if media organisations do have a particular partisanship, they should state it, so people know when they pick up the paper, watch television or listen to the radio that this is the angle they're coming from."